Washington State

We left Portland Oregon and crossed into Washington State on the I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River, a really magnificent river and bridge.

Our home for the next 2 weeks was the Blue Sky RV Park near Issaquah just 20 miles east of Seattle, a small park nestled in the pine forests. The only issue we had with this park, apart from the cramped sites, was their rules regarding dogs. Dogs were not to be walked on the lawns or grass, the only area they provided was a short trail covered in large wood chippings which was difficult to walk on.

In a way this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we found the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy organization dedicated to converting old railway lines to biking/walking/hiking trails. One of these is the Preston to Snoqualmie trail just a mile away, we walked this trail twice a day, morning and evening – really peaceful and relaxing.

On the way back one evening we even came across some of the local wildlife – a black bear raiding a trash bin. After taking a picture (through the open window) I drove up the hill to the house and told the owner. He just got into his car, drove down the hill and blasted his horn to scare it away. On the way back to the site I saw a woman walking her small dog and stopped to warn her about the bear. All she did was pick up her dog with a “they are a nuisance” went back down the road – towards where I’d seen the bear, just a nuisance – with big sharp claws and teeth. We now know why one of the other dog walkers on the trail wore a bell around her neck, we did wonder if she had a can of pepper spray in her purse.

We made a couple of trips into Seattle to tour Pike Place Farmers Market and see the Space Needle and Puget Sound.

We had lunch at the Maximilien Restaurant above the market, a pretentious place with great views of the sound. Connie had mussels I had a Croque-Madame – a little overdone, but I ate it. We had no idea that Seattle was the San Francisco of the North West with all its hills in the city center, also traffic was crazy, even on a Sunday. We had toyed with the idea of going up into Canada (in the car not with Junior) but after taking over an hour just to get to I-5 we decided to give it a miss.

We took a few trips around the area, Lake Sammamish was a nice drive with a stop at a really great park, the lake is about 7 miles long and surrounded by banks of houses.

A trip to Snoqualmie Falls produced the most spectacular views of the falls and the surrounding area. Of course we had to pay a visit to the Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive In in Issaquah, old style diner with a 6 foot tall gumball machine. On the way back from one trip Connie managed to get our only picture of Mount Rainier.